Sea Sickness Advice. (1 Viewer)

Northerner

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I am seriously useless on a ship and could get ill on the park boating lake. I've done the Bay of Biscay twice without problems and survived by lying in my cabin drugged up with travel sickness pills. I dare not have a walk around, or a meal in the restaurant or very soon I'm talking to God on the big white telephone.

We're going to Santander at the end of next week and this time it's different. Winter weather with more chance of a rough sea and a much smaller boat than the ones we've used in the past.

Has anyone any tips? Friends who cruise say that they pay for an injection when they board and it solves the problem, but can I get one of these on a ferry that's only sailing for 24 hours?

Anyone had success with wrist bands, different pills or the afore-mentioned injection?
 

chatter

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I feel for you, fortunately I dont really suffer from it, never heard of the injection for the ferry but they do sell tablets at the boats reception desk which are supposed to be good.

I could be really cruel here and show you what the weather was like one time i used that crossing but i wont, suffice to say that they stopped serving all hot food and drinks and we were stuck out at sea an extra 24hrs waiting for the storm to abate so we could dock.Didnt realise the boat had so many people on it that crossing untill we got to dock and certainly wouldnt of liked to be a member of the cabin staff after that crossing.

Comming back it was like a preverbial mill pond though.

its usually better to be central in the boat rather than to one side or the other.
 

pappajohn

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i doubt you'll get an injection on a scheduled ferry but your doc may help (probably just sugest travel pills)

my best advise is spend as much time as you can dead midship.

minimises the actual movement....rolling and yawing and going up and down.

worked for me on a really rough irish sea crossing.

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Douglas

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I spent 10 years in the Navy and was sick for the first couple of days every time we sailed,the only cure is to stick it out until you get your see legs and then start all over again the next time you sail

Doug...
 

Ladylea

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Hi

I dont have a problem but my husband does he used the bands last year on the Bilbao crossing and felt ok mind you it wasnt rough. He will use them again in 3 weeks when we will be crossing to Santander.

L
 

peter H

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Simples....

Eat plenty of oranges before hand. Why ?

Cos they taste the same going down as they do coming back up again.

Sorry, bad taste I know.

Peter

ps Remember, no matter how much you hope for it, you probably won't die.

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JayDee

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Mrs JayDee also is a bit, shall we say lacking in resiliance when using ferries.

She uses the wristbands (elasticated wrist straps with an accupressure button). She religiously applies them half and hour or so before sailing and (though it does sound a bit like witch craft) ahe hasn't had a seasickness incident since she started to use them. Now it could be psychological or accupressure could really work (I am NOT getting into any discussions about that - there are people who believe in fairies, ghosts and even the conservatives and there are those that say that that number of people can't be wrong :RollEyes: (Oh really!). I believe everything I read in the Daily Mail (which is true since I don't read it::bigsmile:).

But seriously, Pat swears by the wristbands for seasick control. and as they don't cost the earth it may be worth a try. If they don't work at least you'll be an expert in ships' plumbing. :Doh::Eeek:

Happy New Year anyway and enjoy at least the landbased parts of your trip.


John
 

Munchie

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If it is during the day get on deck where you can see the horizon. This gives your mind a reference point and it helps. :thumb:

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Northerner

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I spent 10 years in the Navy and was sick for the first couple of days every time we sailed,the only cure is to stick it out until you get your see legs and then start all over again the next time you sail

Doug...

The only problem with this though is that I only do a long crossing (Hull/Zeebrugge, P'mouth/Santander) every year or two, so I never get the chance to get accustomed.

It's an inner-ear thing I thing. My daughter once persuaded me to go on a fairground ride called the Octopus or something and when I got off I couldn't stand up properly or drive and had to leave my car and get a taxi home. It took a day to get over it!

Let's hope that that there are no winter storms and I may be OK. I think I'll try a band though, as well as my usual pills. I've nothing to lose (except the lining of my stomach!).:roflmto:
 
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I am seriously useless on a ship and could get ill on the park boating lake. I've done the Bay of Biscay twice without problems and survived by lying in my cabin drugged up with travel sickness pills. I dare not have a walk around, or a meal in the restaurant or very soon I'm talking to God on the big white telephone.
We're going to Santander at the end of next week and this time it's different. Winter weather with more chance of a rough sea and a much smaller boat than the ones we've used in the past.
Has anyone any tips? Friends who cruise say that they pay for an injection when they board and it solves the problem, but can I get one of these on a ferry that's only sailing for 24 hours?
Anyone had success with wrist bands, different pills or the afore-mentioned injection?

My first trip to sea at 16 was from London to Cape Town, I became ill on leaving the Themes Estuary and stayed very very sick for 4 days and nights. The sickness then cleared up of its own accord and never returned even in north Atlantic hurricanes and southern ocean storms I never ever felt sick again.:helptitanic:
If you really want a permanent cure to sea sickness then book yourself onto a fishing boat for a week in the north Atlantic it will kill or cure you I promise.
:winky:
 

Douglas

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The only problem with this though is that I only do a long crossing (Hull/Zeebrugge, P'mouth/Santander) every year or two, so I never get the chance to get accustomed.

It's an inner-ear thing I thing. My daughter once persuaded me to go on a fairground ride called the Octopus or something and when I got off I couldn't stand up properly or drive and had to leave my car and get a taxi home. It took a day to get over it!

Let's hope that that there are no winter storms and I may be OK. I think I'll try a band though, as well as my usual pills. I've nothing to lose (except the lining of my stomach!).:roflmto:

Be aware with the pills, that can make you unfit to drive.

As to the lack of time to get your sea legs, sorry no cure that I know of, the one good this is that recovery is very fast once you get ashore.

Doug...

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Bailey58

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In the days when there was a connection we used to catch an old tub from Scrabster, or later, Aberdeen for a 13/22 hour trip to the Faroes.

The wife (having been brought up on the sea) and the kids were fine, me, at the slightest swell I was in the cabin laying down. Once we took a cargo ship off season back to the UK and from the moment we left they never saw me for four days until we were ready to lift the car off at Grimsby. All the pills in the world didn't do any good, just make you drowsy. Out in the fresh air sounds ok in theory but it's often blowing a gale and not very inviting on deck.

In recent years we have been blessed with better weather and we try to get a cabin on the lower decks and midships as has been said elsewhere. Never had problems on the odd cruise we've done and had dinner through the Bay of Biscay on the last Fred Olsen we did.

Make sure you have a cabin to escape to and lie down, boring but it works for me. :Sad:
 

sedge

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And when you lie down, lie with your head pointing forward and your feet aft.
 

dylan

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Went on a cruise in the Indian Ocean really badly sea sick, Auntie called the doctor and he gave me a jab in the bum and said sleep for 2 hours then go eat until you are full up. Did just that and no more sea sickness. Wish I had know to do that from the start of the cruise :Doh:

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movan

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Like Jenny says, raise your head ..... about three pillows and DON'T lie with your head flat.

When walking don't turn your head left or right, or look up at the ceiling or look down at your toes.... always walk straight up looking forward. If you want to look to the side turn your whole body so your head doesn't turn.

Stemeltil tablets work but you can only take them before you set off as they will make you sleepy and unable to drive when you get off the boat.

Good luck.
 

Loujess

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Simples....

Eat plenty of oranges before hand. Why ?

Cos they taste the same going down as they do coming back up again.

Sorry, bad taste I know.

Peter

ps Remember, no matter how much you hope for it, you probably won't die.

As one who doesn't suffer :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 

movan

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I was told eat jelly for the same reason and that it doesn't have any lumps to clog on your tonsils on the way back up...:Sad:
 
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It's an inner-ear thing I thing. My daughter once persuaded me to go on a fairground ride called the Octopus or something and when I got off I couldn't stand up properly or drive and had to leave my car and get a taxi home. It took a day to get over it!

Let's hope that that there are no winter storms and I may be OK. I think I'll try a band though, as well as my usual pills. I've nothing to lose (except the lining of my stomach!).:roflmto:

As one sufferer of an inner ear problem to another I have found that just accepting the fact that i feel ill but knowing it is an imbalance created by my inner ear fluid telling me one thing and my eyes telling me another helps.

It is highly unpleasant but I always remember that it is not going to kill me. ( I have had this condition now for about 30 yrs and its now so bad that even going to Manchester via the M62, over those hills, makes me feel ill due to the pressure differential as I go up and down).

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Aug 27, 2009
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I was told eat jelly for the same reason and that it doesn't have any lumps to clog on your tonsils on the way back up...:Sad:

I wouldn't worry about a thing, I'm sure it will be fine.:Cool:
 

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movan

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Derek, so pleased you posted that. I suffered from Menieres disease for about thirty years too...... Nothing worked and it can really stop you from doing certain things in life as you never know when it might strike .... BUT about six months ago I went back to the hospital AGAIN. This time I got a lovely young physio girl who I allowed to do these certain exercises which in the past I had been given to do at home but never did because they made me so ill.

This time SHE did them for me. After one ten minute session a week for three weeks, she had 'cured' me completely. It was unbelievable.... I could bend forward, look up at the ceiling, twist around and do all kinds of things I couldn't do before without wondering if I was going to have an attack. She has told me if it comes back just phone up the hospital dept, don't go through the doctor, and she will sort it out again straight away. I can't believe I suffered unnecessarily for all those years.

PLEASE ask your doctor to refer you .. you won't regret it.. but make sure THEY do the exercise as they do it properly not like you would yourself at home. Hugs :Smile:
 

Manouche

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Stugerone, anti-sickness tablets.
Keep your eyes on the horizon if you can, it's the only thing that doesn't move.
Lie down with you feet up the wall in the "middle" of the boat fore and aft.

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Aug 27, 2009
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Stugerone, anti-sickness tablets.
Keep your eyes on the horizon if you can, it's the only thing that doesn't move.
Lie down with you feet up the wall in the "middle" of the boat fore and aft.
If your accommodation is aft then it’s best to secure yourself into the bunk as the screw creates a terrific vibration when it comes back into contact with the water. This can lift you from your bunk and send you across the cabin.:Sad:
 

Swisstony

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My wife and I have cruised for years, and never suffered at all. However, from listening to others who have, the best suggestion I can give you (That has not already been covered) is that if you sit in a lounge etc, sit by a window looking out, do not sit looking out the opposite side as every movement is exaggerated.
 

brodie

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I really feel for you it is an awful feeling.

We went over to France for Christmas week and sailed on the 23 Dec on the 4.00am ish crossing. Hubby pre-warned me it could be a rough crossing as he could feel the car on the way down into Dover.

This is only the second time I have suffered with sea sickness and it was a right sight :Eeek:. I bet the other passengers wondered what was going off!

It was ok for probably the first 30 mins or so, kids happy watching the tv, adults were just chatting away, then we started to rock a little but nothing unusual, I saw a few people wobbling but again have seen this may times. Then my sister said lets go and get the young ones sorted in the baby change, hers 10 months mine just turned 2. We were stood in the changing bit within the toilets when suddenly my stomach started churning and I thought this is it I am going to be ill so I grabbed little un and made a dash for it - I am hung over the toilet and poor little lad started thowing up in the corner of the cubicle so I grabbed him and took his clothes off he was wailing - really weird (I didn't think you could suffer from it so young).

Next thing I hear sis making a run for it into the next cubicle with baby. I went very hot and came over a bit funny just needing to lie down (this was around 20 minutes later) so I went back into the changing area and stripped off and had to lay on the floor with my head on the changing bag and little un laid between my legs with his head on my knee just in a vest, white as a sheet. I was struggling to keep with it, how I didn't faint, I must have kept going for Owen's sake.

Sis says I went a 'funny' colour :roflmto: , she went and got hubby to come in the ladies for me I couldn't move, what a sight me laying on the floor with just my underwear on :ROFLMAO: the amount of people who must have seen me through the curtain!!!! I haven't felt so ill for a very long time probably last time I felt like that was on a works do!

Thank god it was full of Romanians, I was getting some right dodgy looks, but you gotta do what you gotta do!

On the way back on Thursday 30 I took a tablet and guess what no problems whatsoever, it was great I even made it into the Duty Free :thumb:

The tablets I use are from Boots over the counter and they have always worked on the kids.

Hope you have a 'pleasant' crossing. :Smile:

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jhorsf

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Like you I get sick just moving slowly out of port :ROFLMAO:

I do not know what the answer is but found looking at the horizon through a window rather than across the room helped me good luck:thumb:
 

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